Men Like Gods
by HobTheRobot
Summary: A man named Cole MacGrath once fled from a monster and lost his family to The Beast. A Faceless Demon once pursued a destroyer across the land and in battle they shattered the world around them. There, at the end the might have been God of Lightning met the ever changing God of Death. Kessler changed everything. Now Alex Mercer walks in Empire, and Cole MacGrath seeks justice.
1. Prologue

**I own nothing.**

**Simple and straightforward. Prototype and Infamous take place in the same universe, no dimension shenanigans. Empire City is something like 'Little New York' and is somewhat south of New York proper. The story of Infamous begins roughly a month after Prototype ends.**

**Alex is believed by Blackwatch to have been utterly destroyed by the nuke. (Why didn't there seem to be any fallout from the bomb? Choices: Magic seawater comic science...It was a special bomb Blackwatch developed to have minimal impact beyond the initial blast...ALIENS!...It wasn't actually a nuclear bomb, just an incredibly powerful Thermobaric bomb...Other.)**

**Without Further Babbling From Me**

_**Men Like Gods**_

**Prologue/Chapter 1**

**Undisclosed Location: Hideout of Alex and Dana Mercer.**

"Alex!" Dana shouted from her bed, laptop propped up on her knees. One thing Alex refused to compromise on now that they were more or less settled and now that the virus inside her was rendered more or less benign, was how much she exerted herself.

The man shaped WMD appeared in the doorway only seconds after she had called out to him. The number of emotions rapidly playing across his face would have been comical on anyone else, but for Alex, it was a sign that a small city may well disappear overnight.

"What is it? Are you-?"

Dana cut him off. "I'm fine, quit worrying." The only surviving Mercer sighed. Shaking her head at Alex, Dana turned her computer so he could see the screen. "I thought these companies might be tied to Gentek or Blackwatch somehow, and I found some weird files in their systems. Nothing concrete and I can't piece almost any of it together, but it's definitely looking like Blackwatch's special brand of fucked up."

"First Sons?" Alex muttered as he scanned the collected bits of information.

"Some kind of 'secret' organization. Can't find much other than rumors. Supposedly they've been around for decades. Conspiracy theories all over the place but nothing else. Check this out," Dana spun the computer back around for a second and brought up two new files. "Don't know if it's these First Sons weirdos or not, but some of what I found makes it sound like something's going on here and here."

Alex leaned forward again to examine the map and the file fragments Dana had linked to the two locations marked. One was just south of New York and he could reach it in less than two hours easy. The other was a bit more out of the way, in Louisiana, southeast of New Orleans.

"Empire City?" Alex asked, more to himself. Memories flashed through his mind, giving him quite a bit of background on the miniature New York. "And New Marias?" Another flash of memories, most just vague knowledge like that learned from a textbook rather than memories of people who had actually been there.

"Yeah. These companies have moved a lot of resources around and one way or another, it all goes through or ends up in one of those two cities." Dana said, nodding and turning her laptop around once again. "What do you think?"

Alex hesitated for several seconds, various shades of uncertainty flashing over his expression. "Will you be okay on your own? I can go check out Empire City and be back by tomorrow."

"Alex! I can't stay in bed forever," Dana snapped, glaring at her 'brother'.

"I'm sorry, Dana, but the virus isn't gone, just dormant. Too much activity could wake it up and I don't know if I could shut it down again. It's not safe for you to travel, especially if Blackwatch or Gentek are involved," Alex said, attempting to calm his sister down. "Please, just wait here and I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise I'll find a way to cure you completely, but until then, you have to rest."

**Undisclosed Location: Just outside the Hideout.**

Alex closed and resealed the hidden door with a sigh. Arguing with Dana was never pleasant, or easy, and he didn't like leaving her alone and blamed himself for her bedridden state. Yes, she was healthy enough to be up and active, but that was the problem. Thanks to Greene, Dana was healthier than she'd ever been, and if the virus had been allowed to continue it's mutations, she would likely be just as strong as Elizabeth had been by now.

_No more Runners. If I can help it, no more outbreaks either. _Alex thought as he sped across the landscape, taking care to avoid the eyes or cameras of humans.

Alex raced south towards Empire City.

**+++ PoV From Here on is First Person Past Tense: Alex, Unless Stated Otherwise.+++**

**East Coast: Mainland Side of the only Bridge in or out of Empire.**

I covertly completed my investigation of the area and came to one conclusion: something was rotten in the state of Denmark. I fished out my phone, modified of course, and called Dana.

"Something is definitely wrong around here," I said. Quite an understatement that.

"_What do you mean?"_ Dana asked, still sounding a little upset at being left behind. I could practically see her indignant pout just from her tone.

"It's not Blackwatch, at least, not that I can tell without… asking someone, but the military sure is here. They're pretty well hidden, but it's obvious they're waiting for something. I doubt the soldiers know what's going on, but it looks like they're ready to set up a quarantine zone." I muttered, eyes locked on a pair of men who were obviously on duty soldiers, casual clothes aside, trying to blend in with the civilians.

"_Like Manhattan? Alex, if it's another test, like Hope…"_ Dana trailed off, not sure what to say that didn't involve several choice expletives, I'm sure.

"If it is, I'll stop it, and I'll make sure everyone knows the truth," I said, meaning every word.

**Empire City: The Docks in the Neon District.**

I waited until the coast was clear before quietly hoisting myself out of the water and onto dry land. Walking along the bottom of the Hudson's cousin wouldn't have been my first choice, but the only bridge was being watched and I didn't trust myself to remain totally inconspicuous walking across it. Plus, the few tunnels that connected the islands to the mainland were already swarming with military units.

I shifted my appearance around so as to not be recognized. I didn't change my face much except for swapping Alexander's cold blue eyes for Elizabeth's eerie green irises and tinging my hair with her bright red. I altered my facial structure slightly in small ways, for as much as I hate the man the face originally belonged to, it's mine now and I prefer to keep it intact as much as possible.

I modified my jacket, lengthening it into a long coat reaching my knees and warping the tribal pattern on the back. I did away with the stripes on the sleeves and removed my hoodie entirely. I darkened the color of my jeans and gave my skin a slight tan, for as in shape as he was, Alexander wasn't the outdoors type. I was fairly sure my clothes wouldn't attract any attention and that facial recognition would only get a sixty-percent match at best.

Hands in pockets, I walked out into the street and began searching for anything out of the ordinary. After an hour of searching, I caught a lead. A man, late thirties or early forties, dark skin, in obvious pursuit of someone. He was on a bike, so it wasn't hard to follow him. He was dressed far too casually for the amount of effort he was putting into following his target. I guessed he was NSA, FBI or CIA.

Taking to the rooftops to tail the agent, I also caught sight of the man he was likely in pursuit of.

"A bike courier? He's not likely important, than. Must be what he's carrying that is," I muttered to myself. Wrong on that one.

They made it into the Historic District before the agent lost track of his target, getting stuck at a red light while his target on the other bike continued to weave through traffic recklessly.

I opted to follow the bike courier rather than wait for the agent to get moving again.

_Good thing people don't usually look up._ I thought, making one particularly long jump that may have been nothing compared to leaps I'd taken in Manhattan, but that was still not humanly possible.

I'm not the sort for pride, so I can freely admit I lost track of the biker, hard as it is to believe.

"Damn it," I grunted, dropping down into an alley. "He's gotta be around here some-"

I stopped dead in my tracks. I still can't really explain it, but I felt something was wrong. It may have been something in the air, some sixth sense from Elizabeth. I don't know. What I do know, is that no one else saw it coming the way I did.

A pulse, the only way I can describe it, ripped through the area, leaving the air charged as if there were an electrical storm imminent, and the lights went out.

Then came the explosions.

I hardly had to turn before I saw the growing bubble of blueish-white light. I reacted without really thinking, throwing a wave of force between the bubble and myself. The dark red distortion, shot through with brilliant green ripples, slammed into the dome and then everything went white in my vision.

I recovered fast, pulling myself out of a pile of burning rubble without any trouble. Looking around though, I was reminded of the latter half of the Outbreak. Buildings were flattened, charred and broken bodies were lain everywhere, and screams from the distance hung in the air as more died.

I'd only been on the very edge of the actual blast from the looks of things. Even so, my 'clothes' were somewhat damaged. I left them that way to avoid unwanted questions, and my 'skin' had been seriously burned. In several places I could see clear through to the chitin 'bones' and black slime that most of my internal body consisted of. That damage I repaired as quickly as possible.

"A bomb? Why test a bomb in-?" I cut myself off and shook my head. "Doesn't matter. They detonated a bomb in the middle of the city. That's all that matters right now. I'll worry about why later."

I made my way to the closest sounds of life, the closest survivor who might be saved, and began doing my best to rescue as many people as I could, not neglecting to sweep each one with Infected Vision. Even if I couldn't sense a new Hive Mind, I still wanted to be sure there were no traces of the virus involved. Call me paranoid.

Maybe ten or eleven minutes after the blast, I reached the last building I planned to search and found only one survivor, an unconscious young woman. A large portion of the ceiling had landed on her legs, more the right then the left, and she would have burned to death if I hadn't found her.

When I lifted the rubble away and pulled her out I noted that she was either the luckiest person in the building or the least lucky, since I wasn't sure if she would survive or fully recover from her injuries.

_At least they probably didn't suffer._ I thought. I'm very familiar with suffering and I don't wish it on many people.

As I made my way out of the still burning structure, carrying the girl to a nearby ambulance, lightning struck on the other side of the blast zone. Not once, twice, or even just three times. Bolts continued to rain down for nearly thirty seconds before things calmed down.

By the time I reached the area struck by the freak electrical storm, there was almost no one left alive on the Historic District side of the bridge. The bridge seemed to have taken most of the hits and much of it had already sunk into the water.

**Day Four: Quarantine in Full Effect. Historic District: Fortified Safe House.**

I'd called Dana a dozen times since morning, maybe more than one hundred times since the blast, and even though she said she was fine, I was having trouble restraining myself from tearing my way out of the quarantine just to get back to her.

I'd helped set up and fortify a safe house after the city started to fall apart and Dana insisted that people needed me there more than she needed me back at 'home'.

Finding enough food and medicine for everyone had already started to become difficult, at least, without thinning the population outside the safe house anyway. I estimated they could last a month as things were before they'd start to have problems with rations if everyone went extremely light on meals. No one had taken that very well, but a glare from me was generally enough to take the wind out of most people's sails.

What was wearing on _my_ nerves at the time though, were the soldiers that had begun patrolling the district at night, and from what I'd heard, they were showing up in the day now as well. They weren't Blackwatch, that much was obvious at a glance, but their behavior was too similar for my liking.

I wouldn't have been half as concerned if I'd had the chance to consume one or two of them, but they were always in groups and they had begun posting lookouts on rooftops. As long as I was trying to stay low profile, I couldn't afford to attract attention more than I already had and I couldn't even travel quickly anymore. Making matters worse, most of the district's power had been cut, leaving everyone to rely on portable generators.

**Day Seven: Historic District: Ground Zero.**

I'd combed over the crater the day of the blast, a few hours after things had calmed down, or as much as they could given the circumstances.

I hadn't found anything useful. No fragments of a detonated weapon, no trace of viral matter, no chemicals that shouldn't have been in the area. Absolute nothing.

That day I had also noticed the plague, which was hard not to, so I had scanned everyone I saw suffering from it, and had found no signs of the virus. Other than all of those afflicted being in the city, I couldn't find any common factors between them either. Just being alive seemed to be enough for the plague to affect people.

I absorbed a few blood samples from the afflicted and was even further baffled after I found no viral or bacterial evidence that could explain the condition, cementing the fact that the plague just gave me even more questions and no answers.

So, standing in the crater for the dozenth time, I glared at the one clue I had: the pillar of concrete in the exact center of the devastation. It didn't react to the glare at all, of course, and I was left to sigh and wander off again.

Walking is, in my opinion, a massive waste of time. I could have easily covered the entire district in under a minute if it weren't for the First Sons soldiers on the streets and rooftops. Not that they could really threaten me, in the end, but I was trying to be covert at the time and dashing through the air would certainly have gotten me noticed.

Stealth isn't a bad thing. I have no complaints about doing things quietly, but being forced to practically inch along the ground like a slug for several days was infuriating. However, I was almost glad I'd been walking when I noticed a familiar smell and hushed voices from what appeared to be an empty alley.

Thermal vision revealed a pair of First Sons agents, one seeming to be larger, or carrying far more equipment, than the other. They were discussing patrol routes and shift changes. Just in case they noticed me, I made a show of stretching and then checked my non-existent watch before looking around and dashing down their alley.

They shuffled a bit, moving to clear a path, but otherwise didn't seem to think I knew they were there. I veered towards the wall and kicked off it, launching myself into the larger man and slamming him into the opposite wall. I shoved my hand into his chest and extended a blade through the other man's neck before he even had time to shout.

I consumed them both and quickly sifted through their memories. Admittedly, that little stunt probably tipped someone off one way or another, but it didn't come back to bite me in any way I noticed so I call it a worthwhile gamble. I found that neither knew too much about exactly why they were doing what they were, but they did give me a new clue. Their leader, a man called Kessler, had specifically requested the courier I'd seen the government agent following.

They didn't have any clue why their boss had wanted that specific man to deliver the Ray Sphere.

I was a bit shocked to find out they knew exactly what the device was. That it was supposedly a machine that could activate and amplify psychokinetic powers in people hardly gave me pause, though, considering my own abilities and nature.

Besides some new information, unfortunately not including the location of their main base of operations in the city, the two also provided me with a new power. Seeing them invisible to human sight had made me think they had a functional optical cloaking device. While this was true for the smaller guy, the larger man was what they called a Conduit.

The equipment that the Conduit had been hooked up to was a sort of relay and transmitter. Some of the equipment on the normal troops acted as a receiver and let them make use of the Conduit's powers. In this case, it served as a stealth device using the Conduit's invisibility to assist his allies.

I admit, I was mildly amused with the ability and spent almost a minute switching it on and off. It had its limits, of course, even now it's not perfect. Rapid movement disrupts it, for one, creating a flickering distortion in the air. It didn't help that it wouldn't hide me from the First Sons at all either, since the masks they all wore were designed to filter for their own cloaked troops.

Even with those limits though, I was rather pleased with the new ability and continued on my way back to the safe house.

**Day 14: Historic District: The Safe House.**

I made trips to both the Neon and the Warren over the seven days following my acquisition of the cloaking power. I investigated the Reapers and the Dustmen, finding both groups to be reprehensible. They had Conduits of their own, I found, but I didn't manage to run into any in the few hours I spent in either district.

Could I have actively hunted them down? Ripped the gangs apart and taken their powers, restoring order and relative peace to the city as I went? Maybe. But with Blackwatch still thinking I was gone I wanted to lay low as long as possible, and declaring an all out one man war on the gangs would have brought all kinds of attention I didn't need at the time.

Anyway, early morning on the fourteenth day of the quarantine, I got set on the right track to finding out what was going on in the city and what the First Sons leader was up to.

Amy Dailey, the girl with the crushed leg, violently protested when the self-proclaimed "Voice of Survival" hijacked the television to lay blame for the blast and the current state of Empire City at a courier named Cole MacGrath's feet. The exact same courier who I'd lost track of the day of the blast.

"He's lying! I know Cole! He wouldn't do something like this!" Amy shouted, not to anyone in particular. She was bed ridden. Her leg wasn't likely to ever heal fully, but it didn't need to be amputated.

Previously, I'd talked to her a bit when she had first woken up from her injuries. She had thanked me for saving her when she heard I was the one that had pulled her out of the rubble.

Before the broadcast had come on and her outburst, though, I'd been on my way out. I wouldn't normally have paid it any mind, but he got my attention with his claim, and Amy's reaction got me back in the door and across the room as fast as humanly possible.

"The courier, his name's Cole?" I asked. She jumped, probably shocked by my sudden appearance.

"Y-y-yeah. I know him. He's dating my sister, and he most certainly wouldn't do something like this," she answered, hesitating a bit at first but picking up speed quick. "I mean, Cole's not like, a saint or something, but he's a good guy. He'd never help anyone blow up the city. He's just a courier for Christ's sake. He couldn't have known someone had him delivering a bomb."

"If he survived the explosion, where could I find him?"

"What do you mean if?" She looked horrified at the implication Cole might be dead.

I knew she was worried about her sister. She'd talked about trying to call her, but no phones were working in the district at that point. Even I found myself having to cross to one of the others or to the mainland to call Dana. Implying someone she was close to might be dead probably wasn't the smartest thing I could have done.

"A human wouldn't survive a hundred _pound_ explosion from close proximity. The blast that caused all this was at least in the multi-ton range. If he was holding the device when it detonated… sorry," I said, stopping myself before I could give a graphic description of what might happen to a human body exposed to a close range multi-ton detonation.

"I have reason to believe he's alive though," I continued. "Where do you think I'd most likely find him?"

"I know he didn't have anything to do with it," she said, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.

"You know him. I don't. So, I'll take your assessment of his character as true unless he proves you wrong. I have no intention of hurting him, I just want to know what's going on here and who's responsible," I said, trying to sound reassuring. I already knew Cole had no idea what the Ray Sphere was. Kessler may not have told the rank and file why he had Cole carrying it, but they knew that Cole wasn't connected to them in any way.

After a few seconds, looking sideways at me with more than a bit of cautious suspicion, Amy answered.

"If he's not in the Historic District, then he probably would have made it back to the Neon before everything got closed down. He'd be with Trish and Zeke, his best friend," she said, smiling lightly.

With that, I made to leave. She was a bit worried I wouldn't be able to get to the Neon, but I told her I'd find a way, and that I'd let her sister know she was okay. I was sure Cole was alive. The First Sons seemed to think so, but I wasn't sure about Trish or Zeke.

I didn't mention it to Amy though.


	2. Light in the Dark

I do not own Prototype or Infamous.

Things still not quite moving along this chapter but it's getting there. Things will speed up after Alex talks to Cole.

* * *

**Light in the Dark**

Making it to the Neon was easy, I'd done it several times already after all. I was a bit irritated to find that Cole may well have been little more than a quick jump or so away from me each time I'd entered the district directly from the Historic side. The building where he shared an apartment with Zeke was basically right next to the bridge as far as I was concerned.

I checked there first and found no one. It looked like they'd left maybe half an hour earlier at most. I picked up two distinct scents on the roof and followed them as best I could, given the condition of the city and how much trash and rot was piling up I was surprised I could find a viable trail at all.

Found myself at Archer Square, site of a recent supply drop at the time. Didn't have a picture or anything and I wasn't about to start asking if anyone had seen "The Terrorist". When I paused to examine a few unconscious Reapers who'd been left lying on the sidewalk a man, carrying an armload of canned food, noticed and shook his head.

"Strangest thing I ever saw, I swear." He said.

"They were electrocuted. Mild shock at worst and a few first degree burns. A little blunt force trauma but other than that no other injuries. What's so strange about that?" I asked. After all, they could have just been hit with a taser several times and beaten a little.

"Yeah, they were electrocuted. You'll never believe how though." He paused and I raised an eyebrow. "You seen the TV broadcast, that Voice of Survival guy? The terrorist that blew up the Historic District was here. He took the Reapers down and I'm serious here, he was throwing lighting right outta his hands like some kinda comic book character or something."

That got my attention in a big way. Given what I'd learned from the First Sons about Conduits it sounded to me like Cole was one. I asked the man if he'd seen which way Cole went and he pointed me in the general direction of Stampton Bridge, I figured Cole was likely trying to get out of the city.

I ran as fast as I could as soon as that thought occurred to me, cloaking mid-step. Cole was my best bet at the time of finding a good lead on what was going on, short of hunting down Kessler himself. I'd seen the barricades that had been set up on the bridge, about halfway across they'd set up a solid wall of reinforced steel and heavy machine gun mounts; a Hunter would have been torn apart by the virtual wall of bullets those guns could throw out per second.

When I got there things had already started dying down. I stayed cloaked and moved closer to investigate. Swat officers unconscious or groaning on the ground with signs of electrical damage confirmed that, if what I'd heard in Archer Square was true, Cole had been through there.

I got as close as I felt I could risk and surveyed the area. They'd killed dozens of civilians. I could understand the quarantine if there _was_ a _biological_ threat, even if I wouldn't be happy about it, but I knew for a fact that the plague wasn't something that could be contained like this.

I wanted to tear the wall down and throw it all into the river. Instead I examined the bodies scattered about. I didn't see Cole, or anyone matching Amy's descriptions of Trish or Zeke, which was a bit of a relief. I figured that if they'd been there they had managed to escape back into the city. So I headed back too.

Spent an hour wandering around listening for any rumors of a man shooting lightning out of his hands. Plenty of those but most were just gossip about what had happened in Archer Square. Eventually I heard people saying they'd seen him climbing buildings and jumping from one rooftop to another or running along power lines.

I searched areas people claimed to have seen him and found signs he'd been there, electrocuted Reapers came in quite handy as a marker of Cole's passage. Still took far longer than it should have to actually find him though.

My own fault, I was trying to corroborate Amy's assessment of his character from what other people had seen him do, unfortunately few stories matched up beyond the agreement that he could shoot lightning out of his hands. The tv jacker even reported on it, which immediately made me suspicious of him when put together with other bits of information he seemed to have.

While I was questioning a man who claimed Cole had saved him from a mugging attempt the power went out. The whole district went dark, given the heavily overcast sky most humans would have had trouble really seeing without the lights of the city to help them. I abandoned the discussion I was in and jumped to the rooftops.

Scanning the skyline of New York would have been difficult, but Empire was much smaller and had fewer exceptionally tall buildings. I made two more high jumps before I caught a flash of light at ground level. On the way I found over a dozen incapacitated Reapers. At the end of the trail I found a wrecked power station.

Cole's scent, mostly ozone really, was mixed in with the Reapers smell of drugs, blood and tar. I followed it easy enough and it lead me to a manhole into the sewer. I cloaked and went down to investigate. Nearly ran into Cole on his way out. I decided against actually meeting him just then and followed him back to the surface.

A substantial portion of the district had power back, not all of it but it was probably better than nothing. Cole got a call after that, Moya. I listened in and she sent him to meet an EMT in the area who needed help. I watched Cole fight the Reapers to restore the clinic, then I watched him heal several people injured during the fight. Wasn't sure then how he did that but it was interesting.

I followed him after that to see if I could get an idea what sort of person he was. Not that I didn't think Amy knew what she was talking about, she seemed pretty certain Cole was a good person. But giving a human power like mine, or Cole's, I figured would change them. I wanted to know if his powers were changing him, and if it was for better or worse.

Cole did a good job of proving Amy right as he made his way back to him and Zeke's place. He stopped to heal people a dozen times along the way and didn't even stay long enough for them to really thank him. He ambushed Reapers and freed prisoners. Stopped muggings, even took the time to disable monitoring equipment Reapers had installed on an apartment building.

I clung to the wall, invisible, and listened to him and Zeke chat about the situation, and a dozen less important things. I learned Zeke was a paranoid conspiracy theorist, and that Moya was FBI and an agent for DARPA. They knew about the Ray Sphere and Moya wanted Cole to get it for her, and extract her supposed husband John.

That set off warning bells for me, I almost interrupted them but Cole seemed to believe Moya was using his phone to listen in on him whenever she felt like it. Revealing my presence then, even if I didn't tell them I was Blacklight, felt like it would be just asking for it to get back to Blackwatch.

I went over everything I knew, wandering the streets for a while and eliminating a small group of Reapers. I came to the conclusion that the agent I'd seen tailing Cole the day of the blast was John. I couldn't be sure then but I doubted he was any relation to Moya. And given what the Ray Sphere could do I was inclined to agree with Zeke, to a point.

I had no intention of letting the government get the Ray Sphere, no matter what Cole might want. The possibility of it finding it's way into Blackwatch hands made me shudder. Since I didn't have enough information to really form any sort of plan I decided to keep trailing Cole, hoping to pick up more details before contacting him.

* * *

Since I forgot to do this at the end of the Prologue, I will be noting new powers Alex gains, Conduit and otherwise. I will also note new powers Cole gains/develops due to Alex's presence but I will not bother noting his canon powers as he picks them up.**  
**

**Alex: Conduit Powers**

**Cloaking: **Optical Camouflage. Hides from human sight and Cole's Radar Pulse.


	3. Contact

I own nothing.

Alex loses his patience and steals Cole's phone.

* * *

**Contact**

Cole spent near two hours the next day just wandering around, healing people and detaining Reapers or other random thugs. Just following him around was irritating though, despite his offensive power he was still hardly more mobile than an ordinary human, relative to me anyway.

I was just about ready to quit sneaking around and talk to him when Moya called. Said she wanted him to restore power to another section of the Neon, blew off his objections about going somewhere his powers would be less effective. I worried a bit about that, finding out his powers could be inhibited just by cutting the power.

He went anyway, taking to the rooftops and carefully maneuvering through the Reaper infested part of town. I followed, knocking Reapers out along the way, or killing them, I didn't put much effort into holding back so a few probably didn't survive.

Despite his previous objections Cole hardly seemed to be at too great a disadvantage in the powered down area. Based on what I saw the day before I'd already figured he needed to drain and store electricity from other sources, so his reliance on portable generators didn't surprise me.

He made it down into the sewers and I followed, carefully and quietly. Watching him reestablish the circuit by channeling it through himself caught me off guard but he didn't seem bothered by it. I followed him through the sewers and back to the surface again once the power was back on. Not all that interesting and it didn't help me much, I wasn't interested in the small talk between him and Zeke.

I was really starting to think I should've just tried to get to Kessler directly when Moya called Cole again. She said the Reapers were poisoning the city's water, something about them taking out the pipes under Stampton Bridge, and told Cole to investigate Smith Fountain.

"That explains why they smell like tar at least." I whispered as Cole approached the fountain. I probably saw what was wrong before he did. He called Moya and told her what was going on.

While Cole tried to heal a few people around the fountain I checked out the tar. It smelled like blood as much as it did actual tar, that worried me but I didn't feel any traces of the virus in it. I touched it, absorbed some of it. To describe it in human terms, it made me sick. It smelled like blood because it was.

I found everything in the tar that I would expect to find in human blood, plus a lot of things I wouldn't. Hallucinogens, stimulants, muscle relaxers and a number of biological compounds I didn't recognize that would have some effect on the human brain. I also 'heard' someone recoil when I started breaking down the tar I'd absorbed, a woman's voice, briefly surprised.

Then it was gone. I double checked the tar, the blood, for traces of any strain of the virus. Behind the woman's voice, buried and weak I'd heard, felt, others. Not a hive, I found out a little later, just other minds crushed and broken by Sasha's.

I heard Cole and Trish and moved around the fountain to them.

"Who's Moya?" Trish asked, not sure how to place her tone. Suspicious mostly I decided.

"Doesn't matter." Cole answered, sighing. "Look Trish, I know what that guy said about me-"

"My sister is dead because of you." Trish snapped, cutting him off.

That actually surprised me, that they thought Amy was dead. When I later found out they hadn't even gone to any real effort to confirm it I really wanted to toss them both in the river, Cole's random static discharges aside.

"I swear, I didn't know what was in that package." Cole said, stress evident in his voice but I heard guilt there too. He blamed himself, at least subconsciously.

"I don't want to hear it!" Trish said, snapping again. "You want to help? Fine. You can start by closing that valve over there, it's jammed and I can't turn it. That's how the black tar is getting into the fountain."

Cole shrugged and did as told. I kind of wanted to drop stealth and inform them that Amy was alive, if for no other reason than that their issues on the matter could be problematic later. Then Cole got a face full of tar.

"It's all over your eyes, I need to get a solvent out of my car." Trish said. She sounded annoyed rather than worried. "Follow me."

Cole followed Trish and I followed Cole. He seemed to be hallucinating, reacting to things that weren't there and responding to things only he heard. I couldn't do anything at the time, interfering in Sasha's psychic link was beyond me then.

"That's the only time I'm helping you, Cole. If you get that stuff on you again, you're just going to have to wait for it to wear off." Trish said, after spraying the compound on Cole's face to dissolve the tar.

Trish walked away after that, before Cole even looked like he had really recovered from whatever the tar had done to him.

Cole for his part just sighed, groaned more like, and got moving again. Calling Moya as he went.

"I took care of the fountain, Moya. Had to shut off the feeder pipe that led into it."

"_There are two more water mains in the area."_ Moya responded. I was hoping someone I'd absorbed would recognize her voice and put a face to the name. Nothing clicked, which irritated me greatly. I've always had issues with lacking information.

"Gotcha. I'll turn those off and see what happens." Cole said, ending the call and heading off towards the park.

All in all the next seven minutes weren't much worth noting, Cole closed the valves and got two more doses of tar to the face. He seemed to be taking it far better than he did the first blast though. Still seeing things and still getting psychic messages I couldn't hear, but still better.

While he was dealing with the second pipe though one of the Reapers he put down got back up. One of their Conduits. Cole didn't notice him and he pretty clearly intended to take advantage of that. I didn't let him.

Didn't say anything, didn't alert him or anything. Snappy banter and one liners aren't really for me. I just shoved my arm through his back and broke his neck at the same time. Second time assimilating a Conduit and I couldn't believe how different it was, hundreds of genetic sequences branching in completely different ways from those of the First Sons Cloaker.

I felt Sasha again there, learned her name and face from the Reaper. I felt her through the psychic link she had with the gang, and she slammed that door shut faster than I could believe. Cole finished with the valves and was heading into the tunnel by the time I finished assimilating the Conduit.

He still wasn't that fast though so catching up wasn't hard. I had to hang back on the way through the tunnel, he was tossing his lightning bombs around and peppering empty air and Reapers alike with arcs of electricity. I really grew to hate the effect Sasha's blood had on Cole.

There was a truck at the end of the tunnel, pumping Sasha's blood into the water pipes. Cole took it out, I doubt he needed Moya's prompt. If he hadn't I would have anyway.

"What the hell is that stuff?" Cole asked Moya.

"_Some kind of mind-control agent. It appears to be organic, but I don't know how they're producing it."_

Cole groaned. "Yeah, well, it sure did a number on me. I'm heading back to Zeke's, my head is killing me."

He hung up and started back down the tunnel. My patience evaporated, really it had been gone for a while. Cross was right that I have a hard time sitting still, even metaphorically.

I walked up next to him and took his phone, morphing a solid armor shell over it. No air could get in or out, meaning no sound either. Then I dropped the invisibility.

"Cole MacGrath." I said, not even flinching as he jumped a few feet back and aimed right at my head. I remembered Cross's stun baton and the hell live electrical currents could play on my cellular structure, but I didn't expect Cole to shoot first.

"Who wants to know?" Cole asked, not cutting the flow of electricity around his arm.

"Alexander. Alex, preferably." I said. "If I wanted to fight you, or kill you, I could have just done it without letting you know I was here."

After a second Cole lowered his hand, didn't stop channeling his power though.

"My phone?" He asked, holding out the hand that wasn't charged.

"No. You think Moya's listening in, maybe at random, maybe constantly. She could have a recorder set up. I don't want to be heard, least not what I have to say right now."

"Alright," he said, tensing shifting his weight. "What do you want?"

"Information I think you can help me get." He started to protest but I held up a hand. "Let's start with what I know. I know you didn't set off the Ray Sphere." His eyes widened at that. "I know you didn't even know what it was until Moya told you and that you'd never heard of the First Sons either."

"So what are you? Another FBI agent?" He asked, finally cutting the flow of power to his right arm and crossing both across his chest.

"No. I'm investigating this for my own reasons. I want to know why they set it off and what their leader's planning. Among other things I want to know why he picked you."

"What?" Cole started at that, I expected that reaction. "What do you mean someone picked me?"

"The First Sons leader, Kessler. He specifically requested you, by name, to be the courier that carry the Ray Sphere."

"How do you know that?" He demanded, understandable suspicion in his voice. He was lighting up again.

"I was in the Historic District at the time of the blast. That's where I've been since, for the most part. The First Sons have infantry patrolling over there and I managed to 'interview' a pair of them." I walked over and sat down on the hood of a car, one that hadn't been blown up during Cole's fight with the Reapers.

"And they just told you all about their little club?" He asked, skepticism dripping from every word.

"You aren't the only one with creative ways to get information." I said. I'd seen him use his power on a dead Reaper before moving straight to a hidden package as if he knew where it was.

"Right, the invisibility thing. You got powers from the blast to." He said, connecting dots. Incorrectly, but given what he knew he was on the right track. "So what? You read minds or something too?"

"Something like that." I said before continuing. "That's how I found out about the Ray Sphere, Kessler and Conduits."

"Conduits?" He interrupted.

"It's what the First Sons call people with powers. The Ray Sphere acts as a catalyst for what they call the Conduit Gene, forcing it active to give people psychokinetic abilities."

"Alright. Conduits. So there are a lot more of us?" He sounded worried.

"The Reapers have a few, you've seen them."

"Yeah but they all have the same powers. Could there be more like me? The world doesn't need a bunch of human electrical storms."

"Worried what others would do with your powers?" I asked.

"Aren't you? What all can you do? Would you trust someone else with your powers? Hell, do you trust yourself?" His agitation showed, not in a display of his powers or anything, he seemed to have that under control. But I can read people, I made a point of learning after Karen stabbed me in the back and even without that it was rather clear he didn't like the idea.

"No, I wouldn't trust anyone with my powers. I've been following you since the Reapers took out the power because I had to be sure you weren't the sort of person to abuse your powers now that you have them."

"You've been tailing me since yesterday?" He was surprised, but didn't seem offended. "God, you really could have killed me couldn't you?"

"You didn't give me a reason, try to keep it that way." I didn't mean it as a threat, not really, but I wanted to be clear that I wouldn't tolerate a superpowered megalomaniac. "Anyway, the soldiers gave me a lot of info but few leads. They didn't know where their own base was, they didn't know where you were. Then the tv jacker blamed you for everything. Amy insisted he was wrong so-"

"What? Amy? Amy Dailey?" Cole near shouted, interrupting.

"Yeah. Maybe I should have told you sooner."

"You think? God-wait! You were there weren't you? You heard Trish, why didn't you say anything? She thinks her little sister is dead!"

"Still observing. Sorry."

"I gotta tell Trish." He said, near a whisper.

"Later." I said. "Amy told me where to look for you. I found you after the power went out. Now I want to share info. I'll help you wherever I can and relay anything I learn to you in exchange for the same. I've got something you'll want to know already, the tar is blood."

"Blood?" Cole asked, looking disgusted.

"Sasha's, specifically. She's a Conduit and the current leader of the Reapers. She took over after the blast but the Reapers don't know anything about her besides her name and face. She took over and is using her power, her blood, to control the Reapers now. Her power suppresses higher brain functions I think, and leaves a psychic link between her mind and the victims."

"Yeah, I can see that." Cole muttered, rubbing his forehead. "Still got her creepy ass voice ringing in my ears. So her name's Sasha?"

"Seeing how you were acting after the tar hit you I expected it was something like that. Your power must counter hers somehow, keep her from taking control. What all has she said?"

"Lots of things, lot of bullshit about loving me, about my friends not caring." He said, waving it off.

"She might have said something useful though, doesn't sound like she's sane enough to filter her thoughts. Tell me everything you can remember." I said, insisting. He did, paraphrased a lot of it I'm sure but it was something, even if almost none of it made sense at the time.

We split up, I said I'd find him later with anything I could pick up in the meantime. I cloaked and he took off for Zeke's roof. I followed, curious how he'd react to everything without me right in front of him.

He called Zeke on the way, pausing on a rooftop. I'd returned his phone of course, Moya had called as soon as it wasn't encased in armor anymore, confirming that she was listening in at least sometimes. She wasn't happy but Cole blew her off.

"Zeke, yeah. I'm on my way back, I'll tell you about it all when I get there." He paused, things sinking in I guessed.

"_Hey, you okay man?"_ Zeke asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just-just found out a lot of things. I'll be there in a minute."

When he got back Amy was the first thing he told Zeke about, the relief in Cole's voice was even more noticeable than it had been when I'd first told him.

"He said she's alive, over in the Historic District."

"That's great, brother. Have you called Trish yet, let her know?"

"I'm gonna tell her, Zeke. But I gotta do it in person, she'll just think I'm lying, trying to get on her good side or something if she can't _see_ that I mean it, that her sister's alive."

I left after hearing that. As I heard it, Cole didn't care if Trish believed he wasn't responsible for the blast, he just wanted her to be happy. He was genuinely relieved that Amy was alive and was only thinking of her and her sister, not what Amy's survival meant for him. She was right, and Cole kept proving her right.

* * *

**Notes!**

**Reaper Conduit Consumed! New Power Tree Unlocked!** I will get into this more later since he hasn't actually used them yet.

I would appreciate any feedback you can provide on my characterization, pacing, etc.

Also, I noticed roughly three times as many people have read this compared to my purely Prototype story A Dream of Armageddon. If it's not too much trouble I would appreciate it if readers here would check that out too and let me know what they think.


	4. Debut

Still don't own either Prototype or Infamous.

Still mostly following Infamous canon, but we're making progress.

Alex makes a semi-heroic debut.

* * *

**Debut**

I found Cole around nine o'clock the next morning.

"That's new," I said, decloaking.

"Holy shit!" Cole barked, jumping away. "Okay, you can't keep doing that."

I held out my hand. "Phone". He rolled his eyes and tossed it to me and I put a shell over it. Not that I had anything majorly important to say, just didn't want to give Moya any more to work with than I had to.

"So where'd that come from?" I asked, gesturing to the cable he'd just jumped off of.

"What?" He asked, blinking before realization crossed his face. "Oh, the grinding thing."

He told me about the substations, I'd seen another section of the district regain power so I'd already known he'd visited another one.

"So you didn't have the grenade thing before the second substation?"

"Yeah, when I reconnect a circuit it's like it boosts my powers, and I just know I can do something new."

"Interesting. Guess that's one more reason to keep turning the power back on. So where are you headed now?" I asked, already devoting some thought to how to use the new information. Couldn't hurt to be prepared and I'd already suffered setbacks in the past because I didn't think ahead.

"Moya's got a few things for me to look into, marked some spots on my phone's GPS. I'm heading to one now."

"I'll tag along, help if I can. Just pretend I'm not here." I said, retracting the shell and tossing his phone back.

"Gonna have to explain that one to me eventually." Cole muttered, obviously referring to the shell I used to silence his phone.

"_Cole?"_ Moya spoke up almost the moment the phone was out of the shell. "_Cole what just happened? Is he there? The Conduit you talked to yesterday?"_

"He's here, but I don't think he wants to talk to you." Cole answered, grinning.

"_I don't know who you are but if you continue to interfere in FBI business you will regret it."_ She almost sounded threatening, but given who would already be after me if they found out I was alive I wasn't concerned with her.

"Moya, just relax. He doesn't trust you, and I neither do I to be honest, but he wants to help figure this out and deal with the First Sons. He just doesn't want you hearing everything he has to say. He's gonna keep blocking you out and I'm going to keep letting him. Now I'm headed to one of your checkpoints alright and he's going to help if he can." Cole turned to me and gestured to the edge of the roof. "Try to keep up."

He dashed to the edge and jumped, I hopped after him and landed right next to him on the next roof. I matched his pace the whole way, he seemed impressed.

"Runner?" He asked. I knew what he meant but it didn't stop me from mentally flinching at the reminder of Hope.

"Yeah." I said, as we walked up to the corner of the roof.

"_I'm not happy about this, Cole, and I will expect an explanation later." _Moya spoke up over the phone. Kind of voice that makes you hate someone, least that's what it did for me. "_For now, see that old train? The Reapers have some people locked up in it, collateral to keep the people of the Neon in line. More importantly, there's a chance John is locked in there."_

The train in question was covered in graffiti and it's windows were all boarded up and some had bars welded over them.

"And you want us to bust them out?" Cole asked, sounding more than happy to hit the Reapers and rescue the hostages, cracking his knuckles.

"_No."_ Moya said quickly. "_You're in the heart of Reaper territory, and they'll kill anyone trying to escape. You need to move the train to a safe location."_

"How are we supposed to do that? Push?" Cole asked, scoffing.

"If the brakes aren't engaged you might be able to move the whole train just by keeping power flowing through front car." I said, interrupting whatever Moya's response might have been. I might have actually been able to push the train if I tried, but I didn't want to test it.

"_He's right,"_ Moya said, grudgingly. "_Do it."_

Cole shrugged. "Alright, let's move."

Two Reapers were moving down the tracks, I cloaked and jumped towards them. They saw Cole approaching and raised their guns. One got off a few shots, missed badly. I landed behind them and grabbed one by the collar, twisting and tossing him over my shoulder. He slammed into the side of a building and dropped twenty or so feet to the ground.

Cole jumped to the tracks, blasting the other gang member into the side of the train, then pelted him with a half dozen arcs of electricity. He fell down and stayed there. I nudged him over the edge as Cole climbed on top of the train.

"Crap." Cole grunted. The Reapers had somehow managed to get three cars up on the tracks and they were blocking the train. If it were already moving it could've probably bashed them aside on it's own but with no momentum it wasn't going anywhere.

"Got it." I said, waving him back. I didn't make it look easy, but I got the cars off the tracks quick and jumped up onto the second car as the train started to move. The whole affair turned into one of the most frustrating train rides I can remember.

Between the Reapers attacking us and the train stopping while Cole had to recharge a feeder box under the tracks, repeatedly, I was entirely disenchanted with trains by the end. The last attack from the Reapers was the high point if anything.

Two of their Conduits showed up, along with seventeen normal members. They had several barricades set up on the tracks, more cars too. Cole blasted the first barricade right way, jumping off the train and rushing the Reapers.

I watched the Conduits. If you blinked it looked like they teleport, to the human eye it's near instant. High speed movement in a roughly straight line, jumping from zero to approximately seven hundred miles per hour in a split second. They could only cover so much distance before dropping back to normal speed though.

Tracking them was a couple hundred mph easier than dodging hellfires and I'd made an art of that back in Manhattan.

One dashed and I met him at his destination with a right cross to the head. He nearly went down, I caught him and threw him at the second Conduit just as he was preparing a concussive charge. They wasted their energy projection abilities, truth be told. I can't really hold it against them entirely though, being little more than rabid dogs under Sasha's control it's no surprise they weren't very skilled with their powers.

I focused on them, lying in a tangle of limbs where they landed, and slammed my right palm to the ground. I sent all the energy I could through the street, gathering it under them, and as they started to disentangle themselves and rise I released it in a single blast.

The bright blue flare of energy produced a thunderous roar and hurled both Conduits in opposite directions and high into the air. They came down hard and didn't move again.

Cole had taken out most of the normal thugs already, I dashed up to the tracks and backhanded one of the remaining Reapers off. Between us it didn't even take half a minute to deal with the rest of them. Then Cole looked at me, eyebrow raised, and gestured to the patch of shattered concrete where I'd set off the explosion.

"Later," I said, shrugging. Cole nodded, still giving me a look, and climbed back up on the train.

Moya had let people know the train was being brought in so there was a crowd when we arrived. I honestly expected things to turn ugly, but Cole broke the locks and let the hostages out and suddenly it was all smiles and thanks. I stayed up on top of the train, out of the way and watched the crowd.

Even while he was accepting handshakes and all that from the people I could tell Cole was looking for John too. I'd seen him already and I guessed Moya showed Cole a picture or something. He wasn't there. After most everyone had left I dashed to the closest roof and Cole climbed up seconds later.

He tossed his phone to me without prompting and I sealed it in a shell.

"Okay, so I know Reaper Conduits all seem to have the same powers. So why do you have them to?" He asked, not angry or even really upset, just confused.

"The ability, the power I used to get some of what I told you yesterday doesn't read minds, it steals them. When I used it on a First Sons Conduit I found out it lets me steal Conduit powers along with their memories." I said, mostly the truth outside of implying I was a Conduit myself. "It's fatal though, in case you were going to suggest it's use on anyone."

"So the invisibility power?" Cole asked, arms crossed.

"First Sons. They have other Conduits with a related power but I didn't run into one of them. I got the Reaper powers yesterday in the park, one you knocked out wasn't quite as unconscious as he looked. He was going to hit you while your back was turned and you were still out of it from the tar."

"So you killed him and took his powers?"

"Yes. That's how I learned Sasha's name and face, and that the Reapers are all her slaves now. I almost connected to her psychically through the link she uses to control them but she shut me out."

"Alright. Care to warn me if you're going to hijack someone else's brain and powers? Not liking surprises these days." He said, obviously meaning the Ray Sphere.

"I don't do it if I don't have to." I said. After a second, I added "It's not a very clean or pleasant process, I'll keep it out of sight if it comes up. You're taking this well."

"Hey, you're helping me out, could have killed me if you wanted already. Hell, you could have stolen _my _powers if you wanted, along with everything I know. I figure you've earned a bit of trust." Cole said, shaking his head. "I've got some more stuff to take care off, sticking around or what?"

"I'm heading back over to the Historic District later, check on the safehouse and look into some things, see if I can't pick up more from the First Sons. But I can spare a bit more time now if you need help."

"Don't know if I'll need help, but it would be nice to have it. Zeke keeps talking about it actually, getting powers and being out here with me. Think he's a Conduit?" Cole asked, holding out his hand.

"Don't know, can't without some tests I don't know how to perform." I said, removing the shell from the phone and tossing it back. "Do you want him to have powers?"

"Not sure. It is nice having some backup though." He said and we headed off to a new marker on his GPS. "Couldn't hurt to have more."

The marker practically led us straight to Trish. Considering the Reapers tendency to ambush I stayed on a roof as a lookout. I could still hear everything they said though.

Trish saw Cole approaching and ran over to him, animosity plain on her face.

"This is like the fountain all over again. Why aren't you stopping this?" She demanded, her tone actually implying that the tar was Cole's doing.

"I blew up a whole tanker full of that stuff under the park. Figured that would do it." Cole said, hesitating in the face of Trish's visible anger.

"Well, it's coming from somewhere - these people aren't getting sick on their own, Cole." She retorted, practically snarling.

"I'll find out what's going on." Cole started, trying for a calming tone. "Once I find Sasha I can-"

"Sasha?" Trish snapped, interrupting him.

"A Conduit, a person with powers like me."

"Conduit? You named it now? Zeke's idea?" Trish asked, crossing her arms and glaring at Cole more intensely. "And who's Sasha?"

"She's the leader of the Reapers. A- another Conduit I met found out about her, he says the tar is her power, part of it anyway. I'll explain everything later, alright. Look, about Amy-"

"NO!" Trish shouted. "I'm not talking about it C-Cole, just deal with-with this alright." She turned and hurried away. Cole just stared after her for a moment before calling out.

"Trish! Wait!"

She didn't stop, just waved back sharply. She was crying, I could see and hear it clearly. Some people don't take loss well, though given that her sister was actually alive the whole scenario just annoyed me rather than inspiring sympathy.

I took one more look around, checking for Reapers, before jumping down to Cole.

"Pulling teeth, Cole." I said, having dozens of memories of the same advice in similar situations. "Just tell her, don't warn her you're going to bring it up if that's how she's going to react."

"Easier said. Damn it!" He swore, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "Let's just find out how the Reapers are getting the tar to these people."

He spoke up again almost as soon as we started moving.

"Kinda figured they'd need time for Sasha to make more of the junk, honestly."

"She's been in charge for at least eleven days and is only now trying to spread it through the city. She's probably been stockpiling it to try and take the whole district at once." I said. It seemed the most likely explanation for how quickly she'd gotten back to it. "If it's not coming from the pipes in the ground we should check the water towers."

Cole nodded and we headed up. Of course I got to the roofs quicker, not a building in the city I couldn't jump clear over if I tried. Thinking about water towers reminded me of Hunter incubation. I knew, intellectually, that there wouldn't be any monsters coming out of the towers in Empire, but it still bothered me.

I took a bullet to the shoulder almost as soon as I landed. Three roofs over I saw six Reapers by a water tower with some kind of pump attached to it. Hard not to hear the gunfire so Cole figured out we had company pretty quick.

"I'll clear the Reapers, get to the tower." I shouted to him, using a tone picked up from Blackwatch lieutenants. I dashed to them, stopping right in front of one with a shotgun and jerking the gun out of his hands.

Not that I needed it but the shotgun was useful in dealing with the remaining Reapers, dashing to them and tagging them point blank being an effective tactic. Cole caught up just about the same moment I dealt with the last one.

"Couldn't have left one or two?" He asked, mild amusement in his voice.

"We're in a hurry, aren't we?" I said. I knew he was joking but my sense of humor was underdeveloped back then, to put it mildly.

"Right, let's see what this is." Cole said, shrugging and climbing up the water tower.

"Just get rid of it, it's leaking tar and the Reapers put it there. That's how they're getting the tar into the water around here." I scanned the nearby rooftops for any other water towers or Reapers as I said it.

Cole grunted and blasted the pump. It exploded and knocked him off the tower, covered in tar.

"Fu-damn it! You've got to be kidding me!" He snarled, wiping at his eyes. "Breathed some of that crap this time!"

Moya chimed in there, waving off Cole's problems as minor in the face of helping others. She didn't sound like she really cared either way. Then two of the Reaper Conduits showed up, aiming for Cole while he was messed up by the tar.

I intercepted one mid-dash, slamming him into the side of a building and taking his rifle from him, emptying it into his chest before he could recover. Cole dealt with the other one almost as fast, even with the tar on him.

We took out two more pumps, two Reapers guarding each, Cole didn't even give me a chance to try anything before blowing them up. There were more Reapers guarding the fourth tower though, including two who'd picked up RPG launchers somewhere.

Not a threat to me but I hit them first anyway while Cole aimed for the others, I could take the explosives if I had to but I'd already seen that Cole wasn't near as durable as I was. He blew up the pump but seemed pretty messed up by then.

"Take a break. I'll clear the Reapers around the last pump." I said, dashing away before he could protest. They had a mounted machine gun up on the last roof, but I'd dealt with entire platoons wielding the same weapon, so it wasn't an issue.

Cole arrived a half a minute later.

"Short break." He said as soon as he was on the roof.

"Apparently."

"Alright, I'll deal with this and-"

"Wait. I might be able to spare you another face full of tar." I didn't know for sure I could do it, but given how much less complex it was than the Reaper's normal projection method I figured it was possible. I hopped up onto the tower and threw out my hands, a cone of concussive energy expanding out and forward.

Just like Cole's shockwaves did it blew the pump apart without flooding the water pipes with tar. I got splashed with the tar but Sasha was still keeping me firmly locked out of her psychic link and none of the tar's other effects worked on me.

"Alright, that works." I said, dropping back to the roof.

Cole smirked. "Guess Zeke's right, I should get my powers copyrighted before everyone starts tossing around knockoffs."

"Not sure how you'd work that out. I'm heading back to the Historic District, I'll catch up with you later." I said, mock saluting before dashing to another roof and heading back across the Neon to the Fremont bridge.

If I'd stuck around a bit longer I might have had a chance to take Kessler out, or he might have just waited until I was gone.

Along the way I debated cloaking, but being able to move freely again was a relief and I didn't want to give it up again so soon. People saw me, pointed, took pictures. But no one shot at me. No strike teams were called, no soldiers sent in.

The only thing that might be faster than light is rumor, people had seen me on the train with Cole and I was being treated as almost as much of a hero as he was. So I didn't cloak, I just kept moving from roof to roof until I reached the bridge.

* * *

**Notes!**

**Powers: Alex.**

**Flash Step (Open to better name suggestions):** High speed movement in a straight line. (Augments Air Dash by default and greatly boosts speed and damage of flying kicks.)

**Concussive Blast:** A blast style attack projecting concussive force. (Effectively identical to Punch Blast(Infamous 2) but lacking the electrical component.)

**Concussive Strike:** Energy focused through the ground to create an explosion under the target. Capable of targeting multiple points at once or focusing all power on one point. (Effectively a energy projection variant of Ground Spike in concept.)

**Concussive Bolt:** A ranged, concussive energy ball. Not exceptionally powerful but has a high fire rate, projectile travel speed and decent range.


End file.
